


The Meeting

by JaKedeSnaKe



Series: Life in the Perseus Arm [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Backstory for my AU, Feral Gems (Steven Universe), Gen, No major character death but a lotta people are said to have died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 09:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20006137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaKedeSnaKe/pseuds/JaKedeSnaKe
Summary: Human ambassadors in the future talk with Yellow Diamond, and discover the truth about the feral gems of the Perseus Arm.





	The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This was made before the movie, so I didn't write it knowing that the empire would completely disband.

Aboard the shuttle, the ambassador from the Greater Chinese Confederation, Lei Ting, twiddling her thumbs. Surrounding her were a team of several other ambassadors and a dozen soldiers armed with only the latest military technology. Their demeanor was cold and stoic, and none looked directly at her or seemed to acknowledge her nor the other ambassadors. It wasn’t the soldiers that scared her, however.

She had been extensively briefed on the discovery of a hyper-advanced alien race. One that had discovered to have previously colonized much of the Milky Way. One that displayed evidence of superpower-like abilities, able to summon weapons from their bodies. One that seemed to have created the long abandoned structures of the Perseus arm, and seem to resemble the feral gems discovered back in 2167 roaming Perseus’ planets. The Chinese ambassador was informed that the G.C.C had made contact with these advanced aliens, and she was to be sent representing them, along with ambassadors from several other nations. 

It was 2207 C.E, and they were about to make history.

Once she was informed that they were approaching the rendezvous point, Lei got up from her chair and went to the cockpit room to look out. She gasped. 

In front of them was a giant, yellow arm. It looked to be as long as a city block, no, longer. Not that the size itself was unusual - many human spaceships are longer than that - but the fact that the ship was nothing but an arm shocked Lei. It seemed to be made entirely out of metal, and its hand was clenched into a fist. Lei’s ship began slowing down.

Suddenly, the very back section of the ship, a perfectly vertical end of the arm where a shoulder blade would be began to vibrate, then began to split down the middle. A thirty-meter wide rectangular entrance opened up. A two-word command beckoned them to park the shuttle in here. Surprisingly Lei heard the command in Mandarin, but the Russian shuttle driver must have understood the order as well, as he began to move the shuttle. The shuttle cautiously inched inside and released its landing gear, making an easy landing. The opening behind the ship closed without hesitation.

Lei, the other ambassadors, and the soldiers donned space suits and went to the shuttle’s exit. Immediately facing them when they opened the door were two large, purple hominids, which could only be interpreted as guards. They spoke to them in unison. As before, Lei heard the greeting in Mandarin.

“Welcome to Yellow Diamond’s personal ship! Yellow Diamond happily requests your presence in the control room. Follow us, please!”

Lei and an ambassador from the Eighth French Republic exchanged puzzled looks as they stepped down the shuttle’s stairs. The beings were almost completely identical, with only minor differentiations in hair style. The only major difference between them is the placement of each of their amethyst gemstones. They weren’t armed, yet were impressively built and seemed capable of easily overpowering the human soldiers. They began walking down a long hallway exiting the landing room.

The humans followed the two amethysts, who marched side-by-side in complete unison. The hallway was completely yellow, with many hexagonally shaped hallways diverging from it. Like the exterior of the ship, it also seemed to be made completely out some sort of metallic material. 

They all reached the control room’s towering doorway, guarded by two more amethysts. Upon notice of them the guarding amethysts turned to a keypad on the wall and entered a combination. The doorway then split open, revealing a stunning sight.

The control room was a massive chamber, incredibly high. A massive chair was placated in the middle of room, immediately behind a towering column. Beside the huge chair was an equally tall pedestal, adorned with holographic projections of various screens. The side of the room the throne was facing was just a window, revealing the empty black cosmos of space. Other than the chair, the column, and the pedestal, the room was devoid of anything else. It wasn’t revealed to the humans what was in the chair until it turned around.

A massive, yellow woman stared down at the diminutive humans. Her hair was crafted into an almost crown-like appearance, and her face was etched with lines of stress. She wore a sort of yellow trench-coat donned with impressive shoulder pads and sported footwear resembling high-heeled calvary boots. Beside her was a much smaller being, the size of a human. Her yellow hair looked like a peacock’s, and flashed a smug grin on her face before greeting them.

“Introducing the radiant Yellow Diamond!” 

The being known as Yellow Diamond held an unimpressed composure, and looked at the humans with indifference.

The same couldn’t be said for Lei and the rest. They stared slack jawed in awe and slight terror at the Amazon-like being. The usually composed soldiers gripped their guns even tighter than when they were greeted by the amethysts. None of them expected “the alien leader” they were told to meet to be so large, and were greatly taken aback. 

The two escorting amethysts then orchestrated some sort of cross-armed salute to the leader, who dismissed them with a wave of her hand. The door slowly shut as they left. Now it was just the humans, the Diamond, and the human-sized gem alone in the room.

A moment of silence followed, only to be broken by the Diamond’s booming, yet composed voice.

“You all can take off your helmets, this spaceship has been designed to be breathable for your kind.”

After a short conversation between the humans, one soldier volunteered to take off his helmet. Taking in a deep breath, he turned to his companions and gave a short and quick nod. After seeing that he did not collapse from asphyxiation, the rest followed suit.

The humans once more stood idle in front of the being ten times their size, now only without their space helmets.

Yellow Diamond turned her gaze towards the soldiers and eyed their guns. “What are, those?”

A couple soldiers jumped out of fear once they realized they was being spoken to. They turned to the ambassadors, who motioned for them to speak.

“T-this is a g-gun, your h-highness. It’s used to k-kill t-things,” One stuttered. The soldier immediately winced, instantly shaming herself for her seemingly redundant explanation.

The Diamond didn’t think of it as redundant at all. “Huh. So what, or who, do you plan on using it on?”

The soldiers eyed each other nervously, afraid that this being capable of smushing them with one step took their explanation as a threat. They quickly dropped their guns onto the shiny metal floor, and stood facing the Diamond in an unthreatening manner.

She looked at them, partly confused, partly let down. “Is that how you use a, gun?”

The soldiers’ faces went red and began to sweat, their size seeming to shrink after each passing second. An ambassador from Katanga stepped in before they could be embarrassed any further. “May we speak now, p-please?”

Yellow Diamond stared at them for a moment, then spoke with a casual tilt of her head. 

“Alright. Now go ahead, talk.” She commanded, assuming her unimpressed aura once more.

The humans exchanged looks, before Mike, the lanky ambassador from the American Union, shuffled forward and began to timidly recite his greeting.

“Greetings. W-we come here representing humanity, a r-race hailing from Earth, a planet that-“

“Yes, yes, I already know all about you and your planet. Can we skip past this?” Yellow Diamond interrupted impatiently. She muttered under her breath, “Took your kind long enough to master space flight.”

Mike and the team were greatly taken aback by this sudden intake of information. Deciding not to remain silent in the presence of a galactic being of great power, he continued his speech.

“W-well, we come representing all of humanity. We seek t-to know your kind better, and hope to establish a-a treaty acknowledging each other and begin t-trading and exchanging information with each o-other.”

Yellow Diamond sat thinking for a moment, then retorted out an answer. “Very well. We’ll see what your kind can, trade, in exchange for our technology. It was interesting to formally meet your kind,” she said in a bored tone. “That will be all.”

With those words the door to the hallway opened and the two escorting amethysts from before entered. Again, they spoke together.

“Thank you for meeting our Diamond. Your ship is ready to go.” They ushered for them to leave. Yellow Diamond’s chair started to turn around.

Suddenly Lei spoke up. “W-wait!”

Yellow Diamond’s chair abruptly stopped, and turned facing her with a jerk. “What?” She demanded.

Lei began to sweat. “I-I just have more questions. We all have more questions.” She turned to her human companions and all nodded in fearful agreement.

The Diamond stared at her with discontent. Nevertheless, she gave a short nod signaling a go-ahead and for the amethysts to leave once more.

“Well, how can all of us understand you despite not knowing your language? I mean, we all talk to each other in English as our lingua franca, but I’m hearing what you are saying in Mandarin.”

Yellow Diamond replied matter-of-factly. “Gem-kind don’t speak a single language, but rather naturally speak an auxiliary language of sorts. That’s how we’re able to communicate with you.”

Still not satisfied, Lei prodded for more answers. “How come you already know of Earth and humanity?”

Yellow Diamond let out a sigh before beginning to retell all Homeworld’s woes with that planet. From the attempt at colonization, to the Rebellion, to someone she cared very much of her faking her death, to the hasty evacuation and her helping send down the Corrupting Beam. She also informed them of how she found out her companion faked her death, from the help of Pink’s human/gem hybrid almost two centuries ago. All the while the human’s camcorders picked up what she was saying and immediately shipped it off to the leaders of Earth, who tore through their respective government files to find any evidence of remnants of an ancient alien civilization on Earth.

After her monologue the humans were once again silent, pondering the reality-shaking news they’ve received. Lei, however, decided to ask one more question.

“Do you know of the feral gems of the Perseus arm? They remarkably resemble your kind.”

Yellow Diamond, bored from her recount, suddenly jerked upright after slouching in her throne. Her small assistant, who was revealed to be called “a Pearl” also took the question with surprise. Her eyes widened, and she turned up to face her master. For a moment Yellow Diamond was tormented with moments of sadness, then rage, only to return to her stoic manner.

Suddenly she got up from her chair and lumbered over to the window, her pearl timidly following. She peered outside, staring at nothing in particular. It was a moment before she spoke again.

“I suppose I could tell you all what caused almost a fifth of all gem-kind to lose their minds,” she sighed. “Not like it would benefit me to keep it a secret from you.” She took in a deep breath, she began.

“It was supposed to be a weapon. Directly fighting the rebels during the Rebellion was becoming unfeasible. Pink Diamond under the persona of Rose Quartz was able to heal her injured comrades, and gems were defecting to her left and right. After Pink ‘died,’ well, we came to the conclusion that this war was unbeatable. But we weren’t just going to surrender it to the Crystal Gems. We then remembered we picked up on a technology developed by one of our conquered alien races. It was some sort of massive gun. One shot onto a planet did something terrible to whatever sapient life was there.

“It was basically the forerunner of the Corrupting Beam, however it didn’t transform them physically. When shot towards a planet, any high-intelligence life there were,” she paused to shudder, “reduced, intellectually speaking. It got rid of any civilized thought and transformed them back into a more primitive state of being. We thought, ‘with this weapon, we’ll ensure that the Crystal Gems have spent centuries fighting ultimately for nothing in the end.’

“It was stationed in a part of the Perseus arm, far away from us and Homeworld. Nearby, however, were hundreds of colonies, military stations, and spaceports. It was planned to be transported to your planet, zap it, and declare victory.” She paused again. “That didn’t go as planned.”

“There was a glitch in the system. It set off much more prematurely with a much greater range than expected, in the vicinity of billions of gem lives. Only when technicians arrived in special suits and shut down the gun did the carnage stop. But it was too late to stop the mental corruption of billions of loyal gem subjects. 

“Any attempt at civilized conversation with them was hopeless. They were completely terrified, not knowing how they ended up clothed, equipped with tools, and often in an enclosed environment. Attempts to subdue them through communication was met with scratches, bites, and kicks. Setting them through special machines in an endeavor to set them right only caused them to shatter. All they did was gnaw at their clothing, run into windows, and hunt small animals once they scampered into natural environments. They even resorted to archaic methods of procreation, and bred new gems that began life small and weak. It transformed them back into the beasts we spent eons trying to distance ourselves from.” Yellow Diamond paused, and let out a sniffle. She slowly turned towards Lei and the humans.

“The rest of the Diamonds and I decided we needed to make the Crystal gems pay for what had happened, even if it was indirect. We fine-tuned the gun into the Corrupting Beam, which targeted only gems, became much more accurate, and didn’t prone to premature bursts. We also made it more brutal - we made sure that the Beam corrupted not only the mind, but the body as well. We hoped it turn them into creatures of utter barbarity.

“I felt like a part of me was ripped out when I received news that millions of members of my court perished under a single tragic event. I wanted to make sure the Crystal Gems experienced a similar scenario.”

Yellow Diamond read the terrified faces of the humans, and spoke with a smirk. “Is that what you wanted to know? That it was not some mysterious and unexplainable event ruined the lives of billions, but a weapon of mass destruction that misfired?” As she spoke she began eyeing them with tension, but quickly regained her composure and spoke to them nonchalantly.

“It was, interesting, talking to you humans.” The Diamond said sitting back in her chair. “I do look forward to communicating with your kind more extensively. That will be all.”

On cue the doorway opened and the amethysts entered. This time to team of humans followed them back to their shuttle with no restraint. None talked to each other while traversing the long hallway. All were deep in thought over the galactic dictator’s words. We have been visited by aliens in our ancient past. Our world as a whole almost came to an end at the hands of a brutal imperialistic alien race. One boy two hundred years ago helped stop the Diamond Authority’s vengeance for Earth. 

As Lei and the team boarded the shuttle, she got one last look at the two amethyst escorts, who hadn’t changed their demeanor since they arrived. She shot them a smile, and as she turned away, she swore she could’ve saw them both blush.

As the shuttle exited the landing room and drifted off into the inky black abyss of space, Lei and the rest couldn’t help but think that they had helped usher humanity into a new age after contacting advanced alien life. But what would this mean to humankind as a whole? How would their understanding of the Perseus Arm gems change? What if relations between humanity and gems turned sour?

In the meantime, the shuttle raced back to the nearest human spaceport, scared yet eager to report how their meeting went.

“My Diamond?”

“Hm? Oh, yes Pearl?”

“If I may probe, why did you bother giving such an explanation to those humans about the Perseus Arm gems?”

“Oh, I thought it might scare them away. You know how humans are, they’re small and weak, and it took them forever to resemble a fraction of the advanced civilization our kind shows. Giving them the full story might frighten them enough to never bother me like that again.”

“Oh, I see. You’re so smart, my Diamond!”


End file.
